In November 1991, Ivor and Pauline Stokle survived an attempted contract killing. Ivor's former wife, Sheila, was the would-be murderer. Her motive was the insurance payout which would come to her after Ivor's death. Sheila, her boyfriend and an accomplice almost succeeded in their grisly mission. All three are now behind bars…
It started when Sheila invited Ivor and Pauline over to smooth out what had become an acrimonious relationship. No sooner had the couple sat down than they were confronted by two men, who beat them, tied them up and bundled them into the back of a pick-up truck. After a short journey, the pick-up stopped. As the men pulled Ivor out he could see the lights of Gloucester in front of him, and he realised they were near a steep cliff. It was difficult to see in the dark, but he could make out one of the men picking up the car jack and coming towards him, "Suddenly I felt a hell of a thud on the back of the head … I decided to play dead, and pretend I was unconscious, but I was fully aware of what was going on." They also attempted and failed to knock Pauline unconscious.
It seems the assassins idea was to make the attempted murder look like a driving accident. They put Pauline, who was learning to drive, into the driver's seat of the car. Crucially, the men forgot to move the driver's seat forward. Ivor is 6ft 1 and his wife is 5ft 2; the precious inches enabled the Stokle's to survive. The car was set on fire, and the couple then fell the thud of the pick-up ramming into the back of the car to start it rolling down the 30 yard slope to the 200 ft drop.
The police estimated that what happened next took Ivor about 10 seconds to achieve. The pain masked by adrenaline, Ivor thought, "Christ! We’ve got to get out of this car. I swivelled round in the seat, put my shoulders into the door pillar and kicked Pauline’s door open." Unaware that Pauline, had managed to throw herself out of the car, Ivor's face was severely burned as he struggled in the heat and flames with his own door, "The car was doing about 20mph as I rolled out of it and watched it disappear over the cliff thinking Pauline was still in there … "
Both Pauline and Ivor needed extensive and painful plastic surgery with regular visits to Bristol's Frenchay hospital. Ivor's injuries were so bad that he was given only a 10% chance of survival. Much of their energy has been channelled into helping each other recover. Each has been able to rely on the other, "Any chink in the armour," says Ivor "and we wouldn’t be here now…"
Recovery is still a full-time occupation for them both; neither will work again. Ivor's love of horses and harness racing have helped him enormously, and he and Pauline are fully occupied building their own house in a new village.
Ivor takes a philosophical attitude towards his attackers, "I get on with life and just enjoy myself. Pauline’s a little more bitter about it…" Sheila and her accomplices are still in prison and Ivor greets the the prospect of their release with equanimity, "The two blokes have got nothing to gain and if Sheila tried something, the police would know exactly where to find her…"
Life can't be the same again, the physical and mental scares remain. But in some respects life is better, "Like the smell of grass …" Pauline says and Ivor agrees, "It’s beautiful – but I never noticed it before. I’m a better person now than I ever was. The people we’ve met since - I’ve got my confidence back in the compassion of the human race."
